1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for degrading or converting a cellulosic material and for producing a substance from a cellulosic material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cellulose is a polymer of the simple sugar glucose covalently bonded by beta-1,4-linkages. Many microorganisms produce enzymes that hydrolyze beta-linked glucans. These enzymes include endoglucanases, cellobiohydrolases, and beta-glucosidases. Endoglucanases digest the cellulose polymer at random locations, opening it to attack by cellobiohydrolases. Cellobiohydrolases sequentially release molecules of cellobiose from the ends of the cellulose polymer. Cellobiose is a water-soluble beta-1,4-linked dimer of glucose. Beta-glucosidases hydrolyze cellobiose to glucose.
The conversion of cellulosic feedstocks into ethanol has the advantages of the ready availability of large amounts of feedstock, the desirability of avoiding burning or land filling the materials, and the cleanliness of the ethanol fuel. Wood, agricultural residues, herbaceous crops, and municipal solid wastes have been considered as feedstocks for ethanol production. These materials primarily consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Once the cellulose is converted to glucose, the glucose is easily fermented by yeast into ethanol.
It would be advantageous in the art to improve the ability to convert cellulosic feedstocks.
U.S. Published Patent Application Ser. No. 2003/0113734 discloses an isolated cellulase protein, identified as EGVII, and nucleic acids which encode EGVII.
It is an object of the present invention to provide isolated polypeptides having cellulolytic enhancing activity and isolated nucleic acid sequences encoding the polypeptides to improve the conversion of cellulosic feedstocks.